Professor Flor Lacanilao, a marine scientist of well renown, former chancellor of the University of the Philippines Visayas and director of the aquaculture department of SEAFDEC has recently rocked the Pinoy science establishment in a series of essays and letters to the blurbs and the blogs. I won’t post the links here but the reader is directed to google Lacanilao’s name. You would get hits to many of his comments.

Essentially, Prof Laca as he is fondly called by students decries the lack of meritocracy in the science establishment, pointedly criticizing the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). This according to him has retarded science in the Philippines and it closely parallels how appointments are made in the political establishment. Lacanilao derides the NAST for recommending “non-scientists” as academicians. Like its American counterpart, NAST is  the highest body that determines and recommends science policy to the President. 

But what makes a scientist? Lacanilao stresses the importance of publication in peer reviewed journals. Publication is the culmination of a scientist’s job. In the Philippines poor research practice contributes to the lack of a publication culture and severely compromises graduate training and education. This is compounded by the lack of competent research supervisors according to Dean Caesar Saloma of the UP College of Science.

According to Professors Lacanilao and Saloma, the lack of funding is not really the problem. Lacanilao has pointed out that since the presidency of Fidel V Ramos, science funding rose from 800 million pesos to 3 billion today. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Congress has continued increased science funding, appropriating almost 1 billion for the completion of the National Science Complex in UP Diliman.

Despite the increased appropriations and more than 500 MSc and PhD degrees awarded by the UP College of Science its its founding in 1983, publication rates have remained low. Graduate theses are rarely if ever published and many research findings end up as unread technical reports. Lacanilao suggests that publication be made a requirement for advanced degrees and for award and renewal of research grants, award of professorial chairs and tenure.

While private universities such as Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle, Silliman, San Carlos and Santo Tomas have vastly increased their research infrastructure, very few international publications have come from these schools. Lacanilao points out that in 2002, 40% of the publications came from UP and 8% from the private universities just mentioned. The remainder came from international research organizations based in the Philippines such as IRRI.

It is from the universities that publications must come from. Unfortunately only UP requires a thesis for award of its MSc degrees. In other  universities, a thesis is often not required a.k.a. “non-thesis option”. This undermines developing a science research culture. This is incubated in the universities.

Publications are a vital link to making public the results of vetted science research. Private business can read the results either in its original format or in techinical science format (Scientific American, New Scientist etc). This can translate to new technologies with huge economic potential and also boost basic science education.

Lacanilao also takes aim at the media for presenting non-science and pseudoscience before science. But the media is a product of the lack of scientific culture in the Philippines and is tied with our poor education system. I jokingly told Prof Laca that media practitioners (many of which graduated from UP) shouldn’t cut or sleep through their 11:30 AM-1:00 PM  Nat Sci classes if they want to learn science. Seriously though, a subject in science journalism should be taught at UP. I spoke with the journ professors and we can’t identify a person with the right credentials to teach it. Perhaps DOST should provide scholarships in this arena.

Obviously Lacanilao stepped on a lot of toes. He has been both praised and derided in the Pinoy science community. But he isn’t inventing statistics. He has the empirical data and the appropriate analysis to show what is really wrong.

Our scientific enterprise started in the Spanish colonial period with the efforts of some friars. Dr Jose Rizal is a product of that enterprise. The Americans created a formal structure for our science establishment, the Bureau of Science, the granddaddy of our DOST. Since then thousands of Filipinos have been provided scholarships in science and much has been invested. But where are results of the investment?

The Pinoy science community has to do a lot of reassessing or else the latest 1 billion investment may go to waste. Not only DOST is funding scholarships but also CHED.

But as DOST officials have told us, even with the money, they are on their knees begging students to apply for their grants. DOST has even relaxed its once stringent requirements (like the international travel ban for two years and a return service in government).  Still no takers.

And myself have found it extremely difficult to get good research assistants. I noted that their basic science skills are wanting. This is a result of poor science training in the BSc level. I believe it is the lack of real “hands on” science. They learn good science though, but it is of the textbook kind!

And I wholeheartedy agree with Prof Laca when he wrote

“Whereas science alone cannot save the Philippines, the Philippines without science cannot be saved.”

There is cause for hope. While doing environmental sampling in an urban poor community near Markina River, we atrracted a crowd of children ( I couldn’t bear to shoo them away!)  with their science teacher from the nearby public school. One boy declared “Gusto ko maging scientist!”

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